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World of Universal Movies
World of Universal Movies was an Omnimover dark ride attraction that was Located on the Hollywood Street section at Universal Studios London and was an opening day attraction at Universal Studios London in 1991 and it closed in 2001 to make way for BlooJ's Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends: The Adventure, a new thrill ride attraction that opened on July 17, 2004. The attraction used ATS Systems’ Omnimover conveyance system, which took guests past show scenes depicting humorous scenes of motion picture history. It was an opening day attraction at Universal Studios London in 1991. The grand finale of the attraction attempted to predict a real future for movies, with CenterCore, a sparkling TBA that seemed to be in perpetual TBA, and TBA At the ride's conclusion, visitors disembarked into the UniversalCenter, an interactive area about new movies, interactive behind the scenes parts and other movies in that are in development by Universal. Visitors would board on onmnimover trains, and would be taken through scenes that were populated with Audio-Animatronic figures and also projection effects. It was a whimsical look at the history and achievements in movie making, showing scenes from the invention of the movies right up to the present day and beyond. World of Universal Movies closed in 2001. TBA. Even after its unfortunate closure, the ride has a cult following and is still remembered by fans to this day. History The Origins (1987-1988) As the park was being planned around 1987-1988, Europa Entertainment came up with a concept of a dark ride that showcased the origins and evolution of motion pictures in a humorous manner. However, they struggled with the concept with the team not knowing what to do. As the project was facing the verge of cancellation, something happened. FiddleGriff Steps In (1988-1989) By this time, Europa Entertainment wanted to hire someone to take charge of the UKversal Resort, someone who had high knowledge of the theme park industry. After the release of Reversal of the Dragon Heart on September 14th, 1988, they approached Theodore Chrisman and FiddleGriff Studios with the plans of the new concept. Theodore loved the idea of the attraction so much, he and “The FiddleGriff Team“ immediately flew to Europa Entertainment’s headquarters in Germany to assist in the creation of the attraction. Theodore Chrisman also provided character designs and concept art for the attraction. Construction Begins, General Electric Steps In (1989-1991) The attraction was originally known as ”The World of Motion Pictures” and by the time construction began along with the rest of the park in 1989, General Electric had signed a 4-year contract to sponsor the attraction. However, GE would now have a say in the attractions’ design, and while they loved the concept of a dark ride through the evolution of motion pictures, they wanted the attraction to focus more on Universal than just regular movies, so Theodore and his team had to modify certain sections of the attraction to fit GE‘s needs. Also, GE requested that the attraction be renamed to The World of Universal Movies to fit the new concept. The ride still focused on the origins and evolution of motion pictures, but with some Universal spirit. Grand Opening and Some Minor Changes (1991-1994) The ride opened with the rest of the new park on March 4th, 1991, and was officially dedicated on May 24th, 1991, with Theodore Chrisman and Don Bluth attending the dedication. Bluth also worked on Voyage to the Moon and also helped Theodore with World of Universal Movies. TBA. General Electric drops sponsorship, Troubles Emerge (1994) In 1995, the sponsorship contract with GE ended, and they opted not to renew in favor of sponsoring the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics. Now without a sponsor, the park would now have to financially support the attraction themselves. TBA. Life Support (1995-2000) A few months after the sponsorship ended, all references to, and logos of GE were removed from the attraction. TBA. Due to the lack of sponsorship, the costs made to fix the rides TBA Stopped Working and the ride broke down frequently because of this. The FiddleGriff Zone kills The World of Universal Movies (2001) When the resort’s second park, ToonWorld Europe opened in 1998, it was unsurprisingly a massive success, so work immediately began on the park’s “Phase 2“ expansion plan. During the plans, Europa contacted Theodore Chrisman and FiddleGriff Animation to work on a new area of the park based off FiddleGriff’s many IPs. Since DreamWorks SKG already had an exclusive deal with FiddleGriff at the time, they didn’t have to deal with legal issues with Disney. Summary TBA. Exterior TBA. Queue TBA. Ride Riders entered the building through the queue area that wrapped around the portico where the Omnimover vehicles moved into the building through. There was a small embarkation station where the guests boarded the vehicles. The Omnimover rounded the same portico seen in the queue and entered the show area. The first scene began in TBA TBA. Closing In the late 1990s rumors began to circulate that Universal Is making a Test Track/Journey Through The Land Before Time style ride based on a cartoon more mature franchise. On November 16, 2000, Universal announced that World Of Universal Movies would close permanently on January 5, 2001 The attraction closed on January 5, 2001, the day that Woody's Europa Christmas Party ended. Both Theodore Chrisman and Don Bluth attended the closing ceremony and rode the ride one last time before it was gone. Theodore and Bluth were reportably very disappointed with the removal of the attraction, and so much so, it’s rumored that FiddleGriff threatened to cut ties with Europa if they removed Monster Plantation, another attraction designed by FiddleGriff. the reason was publicly given, but, but the lack of corporate sponsorship is widely accepted as having played the largest part in the decision. Also widely speculated as a reason for the attraction closing were high operational costs without a sponsor and becoming very outdated and not that very popular during the late 90's. The closing of World of Universal Movies forced the reopening of Blue's Brother's Mall Chase, another Universal attraction with some modifications from Premier Rides, It was later closed in 2004. The WOUM vehicles were put in storage at Europa Park, which is owned by Europa Entertainment, who also owns the UKversal resort and Some animatronics were moved to Soundstage 91. The building stood unoccupied for well over 6 Months as Universal decided between either relaunching the attraction (which would have required a new storyline and major building renovation and upgrades) or demolishing the building and creating a new attraction in its place. However, Europa Entertainment suggested an idea to gut the building and demolishing some parts of the building, rebuild it and turn it into a new attraction stuck with Universal representatives and Europa Entertainment businessmen. It would take World of Universal Movies, close it down, and refurbish it into a new ride that focused only on a popular cartoon (that's more mature) or a mature movie franchise. It was decided to build a new cutting-edge themed attraction based on a popular cartoon or mature franchise TBA. the reason why it was closed because it was becoming outdated and Universal and Europa Entertainment wanted an E-Ticket attraction based on something based on a more mature franchise several ideas were proposed such as South Park, Famly Guy, The Thing, Alien, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday The 13th or Child's Play. Unfortunately, this new attraction would not have any involvement with Theodore Chrisman and Don Bluth, much to the disappointment of many fans. the company decided to make use of a partnership between Universal and Bloo J, the creator of BlooJ's Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends to make a ride based on the 2000's series, not the 2004 series On October 12, 2001, at Soundstage 21, the ride was announced as BlooJ's Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends: The Adventure which was planned to open in Spring 2003. Scheduled to open in 2003, 28 months after World of Universal Movies closing, this new ride would put guests in an episode of Foster's where the guests on a tour of Toonvile driven by Bob and Larry but nothing went as planned as Bendy kidnapped Jenny, The Villlans Try Attacking The Guests and Bob and Larry So Bloo, Mac, The Foster's Gang with the help of the Universal Parks Guests must go across the rest of the city, avoid the villains and opticals to chase Bendy and rescue Jenny on this new E-Ticket Ride, However, technical difficulties put the attraction behind schedule, and the new ride opened significantly later than the scheduled opening date. The attraction received generally positive reactions from fans of the show and fans of the park who praised the story of the ride, the trills of the ride, theming, audio-animatronics, the mix of screens and audio-animatronics, the ride's thrilling ride system but it had mixed reactions from park fans form the 90's who loved World Of Universal Movies, some saying it didn't live up to the original attraction, while some said it was “too mature” compared to the light-hearted and humorous charm of World of Universal Movies, Another Reason for its mini criticism that it was based on A Fanon TV-14 Show. Tributes to World Of Universal Movies * On BlooJ's Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends: The Adventure There are several tributes to the former ride ** The World Of Universal Movies logo is on display on TBA in the queue. ** The Queue was gutted for the attraction and in some parts, the WOUM Queue was repainted into A Bus Station/Animation Studio. ** In The Queue, there is a reference to Monster Mansion on a poster saying Monster Club! another FiddleGriff-designed attraction that still operates to this day. ** During the pre-show, The World Of Universal Movies logo can be found on the bottom right-hand corner of some of the screens in the video, along with the text "Sorry FiddleGriff, you're at the wrong park.", which both references and pokes fun at The FiddleGriff Zone area at ToonWorld Europa. ** The Bird animatronics are seen as Mega B in BlooJ's Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends: The Adventure witch tries to attack the riders ** In The Gift Shop of the ride, there is a hidden easter egg saying "It’s Fun to be Free" ** Some of the props form the former ride where repurposed such as TBA ** Some Ainmatonics repurposed as TBA ** Some Ainmatonics from the former ride where reskinned such as TBA, TBA, TBA, and TBA ** TBA * When Pokemon Snap Safari opened in June 2019, virtually most of the ride’s animatronics and set pieces were moved and retrofitted into the new attraction. It even reuses the theme song “It’s Fun to be Free”. * The Mummy Animatronic after the closing was moved to Revenge of the Mummy where he was repainted and refitted as Imhotep * All Of The Dinsaour Animatronics after closing were all moved to Journey Through The Land Before Time and Jurassic Park River Adventure. * The Space Station Props In the future scene of the ride were moved to E.T. Adventure and Apollo 13: The Special Effects after Apollo 13: The Special Effects closed they were moved to EuroSAT * The JAWS Shark Animatronics after closing was moved to JAWS: The Ride * The Frankenstein and the Universal Monsters Animatronics (Including The Wolfman, Dracula, The Invisible Man, and Phantom of the Opera) After The Closing was moved to Universal's Gory and Hilarious Horror Make-Up Show and Monster Mansion/Monster Plantation * The Future Props form the Attraction are seen in Back to the Future: The Ride after it closed and was replaced by Despicable Me Minion Mayhem the props were moved to Universal's Studio Backlot Tour and Soundstage 91 * Some Of The Props form the Attraction are seen in The Boneyard, Universal's Studio Backlot Tour and Soundstage 91. * TBA Trivia * TBA Category:Dark Rides Category:Former Category:UKversal Category:1991